Jo Henwood Talks About What Makes A Fairy Tale (& Is There Such a Thing As An Australian Fairy Tale?)

Jo Henwood, co-founder of the Australian Fairy Tale Society talked to Mitch Byatt on 2ser Real Radio (Australian online radio and podcast station) about what fairy tales are and if there is such a thing as an Australian Fairy Tale, before the conference on Monday. Although intended to promote the inaugural conference, the conversation is still fascinating and Ms. Henwood has a real talent for explaining things simply, succinctly and, best of all, with the intrigue of a storyteller that makes you want to hear more.

Incidentally, at the conference on Monday, Ms. Henwood told the story of Thumbelina with an Aussie twist. As seen on Facebook in response to the event :

Wonderful thought provoking papers. And Jo Henwood telling Thumbelina as the child stolen by the dingo.

I really hope the recording of the events went as planned and I'll eventually be able to hear and see all these things!

In any event, I thought it was worth preserving the interview audio, since it's relevant to fairy tales beyond the conference and beyond Oz, and added a few extra visuals along the way the illustrate some of her points (especially for those people who aren't familiar with things like Cinderella variants or know who May Gibbs is). It's a very quick slap-dash presentation (on my part - the audio content is wonderful) but hopefully you'll forgive my lack of available time to do this perfectly and will enjoy it anyway. (My apologies to Ms. Henwood in particular for not representing her chat better but I wanted to make sure I could share it while relevant.)

This seems to be only an excerpt from a longer interview but a lot is said in a short time. If I ever find the rest I'll share the audio for that too. I'd love to hear it

Here it is:

Stay tuned for a small but special selection of (the many!) Aussie artists and writers working in fairy tales these days over the coming week.